Jan. 24/'11 HR in Ontario

[LMS]

Consult.

[LMS]

10 hrs to go!

Just wanted to show you guys the x-ray that started this journey.  It was taken back on July 4, 2006.


I'll see if I can get a copy of the recent one tomorrow.

[badbone]

LMS


you are going to go great!!!
Read the stories that people have posted (as I just had my surgery 3/30/16) it will give you a perspective on what to expect.


You are going to do great!!

10 hrs to go!

Just wanted to show you guys the x-ray that started this journey.  It was taken back on July 4, 2006.


I'll see if I can get a copy of the recent one tomorrow.

[LMS]

Thanks badbone, that was so sweet of you.  :) 


Well, not the outcome I wanted to hear & am really bummed out.  Dr. Beaulé decided I couldn't have a resurfacing, something about wanting to avoid having to do a revision on me.  He then mentioned that there wasn't a HR prosthetic in my size?  I may have read somewhere a while back that they weren't producing small devices for now?  (they were but there was an issue?)

Pat do you know anything about this?


They took an x-ray before I went in to see him, man that hurt.  Then the fellow was checking oit my range of motion which was so poor.  That was soooo painful.  Lots of "Oh... ok... oh... I need to discuss with Dr. B.  I couldn't tell what they were saying but Dr. B straight out said it was going to be a THR.


He asked if I had any questions but I was so taken off guard that I said no.  Signed all the papers & was told the wait time was 6 to 8 months & I would get the call 6 weeks before the surgery date.  Of course once I was back in my car & drove off, the overwhelming weight from everything came over, the tears started & so did the questions.


Why no longer a HR candidate?  Is it really a case of not having the correct size, though there was one in 2008 to 2011?  Did the OA advance so much in the past 5 years that I no longer qualified?  And many other questions & concerns.


I have a screen capture of today's x-ray taken from my phone, I'll post it later.

[blinky]

I am sorry you got bad news.


I am not a doctor nor do I see your X-rays, but yes, it is possible your hip has deteriorated to the point you are no longer a candidate for HR. One reason would be that you don't have enough femoral head left.


As to there not being a small enough device for you, the smaller sized BHRs were withdrawn from the market over the summer. Some docs stopped operating women when that happened. But there are other resurfacing devices available in smaller sizes. You will have to find a doctor who uses one of the other, non withdrawn devices. Pat has a list of the docs who still operate on women.

[Pat Walter]

I am sorry to hear you are having problems.

Some surgeons still do hip resurfacing for small women.  You can read more here.

http://surfacehippy.info/category/hip-resurfacing/hip-resurfacing-for-women-and-small-men/

Most are not using the BHR, but a few are like Dr. Su.  You can read his response on the page above.

You can get free email consultations from many of the top surgeons just to make sure that you need to have a THR and not hip resurfacing.

Here    http://surfacehippy.info/surgeons-with-1000-hip-resurfacings/

and here    http://surfacehippy.info/hip-resurfacing-surgeons/

The only issues with small BHRs were from surgeons who were not experienced having poor outcomes.  If you read the first page above, you will see the top surgeons all had great outcomes for women and small men.  I imagine that Smith and Nephew was just being very cautious and felt removing the small sizes would be the right thing to do.  I can't say any other reasons because I am not part of Smith & Nephews decision making team.

If you can afford the investment, you might want to think about going to India or overseas.  I did that back in 2006.  I put the plane tickets, hotel, hospital and surgeon fees on my credit cards.  I feel it was the best financial decision I ever made.  Took time to pay off, but I have a great BHR which is 10 years old.

Pat

[LMS]

Unfortunately, I'm not in a financial position to go out of province or country.  Thank you though.


Here's the x-ray phone pic I took off the monitor.  Sorry about the quality.  I did try to get him to sign off on me getting a CD (even though I was fine paying for it)

[LMS]

Now that I won't be getting a HR, where can I go for support?  I went on the THR sister forum & it's very quiet there.  :(  What about the small THR section on here?

[badbone]

Please don't give up. !
You are talking about a quality of life and your health.
Seek other opinions before giving up.
I'm sure Pat can send you a list of other resurfacing docs in CAN.




PLEASE EXHAUST ALL OPTIONS TO  FIND OUT IF YOU ARE TRULY NOT A resurfacing candidate.


Once you have confirm either way, then focus your research.

Now that I won't be getting a HR, where can I go for support?  I went on the THR sister forum & it's very quiet there.  :(  What about the small THR section on here?

[Pat Walter]

You can definitely stay here for support.  Both THR and HR are major hip surgeries.  I do have a section for THRs further down the page if you would like to post there.  You can also stay right here.  We will give you support and answer questions that we can. Also, there are many people with THRs that are as active as hip resurfacing patients.  Just make sure you get a large ball version of the available device.  Most likely it will be a large ball ceramic on ceramic.  You don't want the old fashioned small ball version, they do dislocate easily and have lots of restrictions.

There are not as many surgeons doing resurfacing in Canada as there use to be.  Here is a list that I have:

Canada
Alberta

Dr. Jim MacKenzie â€" BHR Trained McMinn & Treacy 2002
1000 Hip Resurfacings to date***
Clinic is in Calgary South Health Campus
Bone and Joint Clinic
4448 Front Street SE
Calgary AB T3M 1M4
For appointments: (403) 956-3255
Referral letter is required
Email:
mailto:jrmackenzie@shaw.ca
Administrative Office is:
Suite 310245
4448 Front Street SE
Calgary AB T3M 1M4
Canada
Can arrange surgery in Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean

Quebec

John Antoniou MD, PhD, FRCSC
700 Hip Resurfacings to date***
Jewish General Hospital
Orthopaedic Department, E-003
3755 Cote Sainte Catherine West
Montreal, QC H3T 1E2
Canada
(514) 340-8222  ext.4615
fax: (514) 340-7595
www.shoulderhipknee.com
e-mail: malevisatos@jgh.mcgill.ca

Ontario

Hip Resurfacing is covered by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan(OHIP)
Dr. Paul Beaulé
Associate Professor, University of Ottawa
Orthopaedic Surgeon, The Ottawa Hospital
Subspecialties:total joint arthroplasty
Tel: (613)737-8899 ext.7-3265
University of Ottawa

Paul Kim, MD
700 Hip Resurfacings to date
Ottawa General Hospital
501 Smyth Rd.
Ottawa, ON
K1H 8L6
613-737-8774

[LMS]

Thanks Pat, I appreciate it.  Good to know about ceramic on ceramic & size of ball.  I'm writing up a list of questions I'd like to ask & I had "which type of hip joint" was he thinking of using.  Maybe letting him know that I'd like to resume what I did before the hip made me stop doing will help?


I see my doc in there, Dr. Beaulé.  :) 


Since I know I have a 6 month wait min., I'm going to do my best to shed weight.  Time to either bring the exercise bike in the living room or bring the TV in the basement (it's an old stone basement, looks like a cave.  So not a cheerful place for motivation ;) )


My husband was asking if I was going to ask to be put on a cancellation list.  I thought of it (when I was so bummed out yesterday) but I'm thinking... that anytime after October doesn't sound so bad actually.  It'll give me all that time to sort out my horses so it'll be easy for my non horsy peeps to take care of them for me, the house (finish the heavy renos) & my weight (I need to lose at least 30 lbs).  So that when the cold season comes, I will be dwindling down anyways, I don't do much already in the winter anyhow because walking through snow always hurt so much.  And by the time spring comes along, I'll be healed enough to slowly start with outdoor activities with my horses & my dog.


Do I continue on this thread or should I start a new one?  Thanks :)

[Pat Walter]

Here's a list to get you started for THR

http://www.hipsforyou.com/questionsforsurgeon.php

You can start a story on the THR section - it is also followed and read by everyone

http://surfacehippy.info/hiptalk/index.php/board,48.0.html

Hang in there.

Pat

[LMS]

Thank you  :)

[LMS]

I guess I'm going through the emotions right now... was reading some posts & many of them have had resurfacings with short amounts of pain prior to getting the surgery.  Which made me think of my situation (yes thinking... baaaaad thing) & it's just getting me irked that I always had to be in excruciating pain, when the damage is done & no longer a candidate for a simpler fix.  Why is it that doctors insist on prolonging things, not listening to the pleas of their patient, until it's too late?


I had complained for years about my hip & was always told to "well stop doing XXX activity & take OTC meds".  Me: can I see a specialist/surgeon please, Doc: "No, I think *this* is what's going on, do physio, take OTC meds, we'll *monitor* it, we could do cortisone shots".


Cue me crying in pain, a few years later "I NEED to see a specialist, I can't function now, the pain is constant, nothing works & I have no more $$$ to pay for therapy methods that do not work", Doc: "Go see XXX".  Finally see XXX "Oh too much damage in there, why didn't you come sooner?", And then more years later "O h sorry, you no longer qualify for this procedure, you're at the end of the line now".


Cue me frustrated, hitting head against the wall! :o


Sorry, just needed to vent!  >:( :(

[LMS]

If I were to consider going out of country, what is the cost for a resurfacing?


Our dollar is low right now.  :(

[Quig]

I can't give you exact dollar amounts but in my homework here I've stumbled across prices a few times for the famous overseas Doctors and been very surprised at the affordability. It's not chump change by any means but I want to say Dr. Bose in India is in the $5,000-$7,000 range for resurfacing if I recall correctly? I believe Dr. DeSmet in Belgium is also relatively affordable and both are extremely well regarded. To me, going to India seems a bit crazy(other side of the globe to a developing coutnry!?) but all the reviews I've read have been absolutely glowing about the facility and the treatment that is provided by Dr. Bose.


Best of luck. I hope you find a solution.

[blinky]

I don't think  Dr Bose will resurface a woman any more. DeSmet will. Dr Gross has a pay up front option on his website for the uninsured patient.
NOTE by Patricia Walter
Quote from Dr. Bose 6/2015  "The gender of the patient has nothing to do with survival rates of  MoM hip resurfacing and I would always be very happy to do a BHR for a female patient if the size is available."

Please see his article here:

http://surfacehippy.info/dr-bose-of-india-discusses-hip-resurfacing-for-females-and-small-men-2015/

Just so perspective patients know about Dr. Bose.  Sorry for the insert, but I know you understand.

[Pat Walter]

Dr. Bose will still do hip resurfacing for women. Please see his quote below and link to his article.

Quote from Dr. Bose 6/2015 - "The gender of the patient has nothing to do with survival rates of  MoM hip resurfacing and I would always be very happy to do a BHR for a female patient if the size is available."

Please see his article here:
http://surfacehippy.info/dr-bose-of-india-discusses-hip-resurfacing-for-females-and-small-men-2015/

For + - $10,000 you can fly to India, stay in the great hotel, pay for the hospital costs and surgeon costs. 

You can read patient stories here

http://surfacehippy.info/hipresurfacing/stories/dr-bose

Many athletes went to him and returned to their active sports. Vicky Marlow, who has passed on, went twice for both her BHRs. She was a great patient advocate of hip resurfacing and had complete faith in Dr. Bose as any other patient that went to him. 

Here are articles and information about the cost of going overseas by HR patients.

http://surfacehippy.info/category/hip-resurfacing/cost-of-hip-resurfacing-overseas/

[blinky]

So I guess the question is if he has non BHR devices available to him?

[LMS]

Sorry if this sounds whiny, genuine question/concern...


As I was walking back from the barn, mind you it was more of a old granny, painful waddle type of thing, all hunched over, choppy steps.  Pain a definite 8 or 9 out of 10, in both hips.  The surgeon said there was moderate OA in the "good" hip but there's nothing that can be done right now.


My thought/question is: why?  If there is so much pain & seizing on a bad day, does this mean that once the "bad" hip is replaced, I will stop compensating on the "good" hip & the pain, seizing, clicking will slow down & I'll go back to having more good days with it?


I am going to call my GP tomorrow & ask if she can get a hold of all the reports & images for me so I can send them for a second opinion.  Even if I can't go elsewhere for surgery, at least it can clarify or confirm things?  I'm still writing a list of questions for my surgeon & that question will be on it.  I don't understand why they can't expand & explain why when you ask.  It's almost like, since nothing can be done, why explain, so subject dropped.